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Cèline Azem

@celineazem

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Art ✨
📍 Dubai

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Our doors are now officially open ❤️ Come visit The Living Archive by @ahmad.tallaa_ and check out the new @firetti.contemporary ❣️& a big thank you to everyone that came to the opening 💫 taken in Firetti Contemporary by @celineazem

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15 days ago

Annie Kurkdjian’s figures are instantly recognisable, but what do they hold?

Born in Beirut to an Armenian family, Annie draws on memory, psychology and the inner lives of people. Her studies in psychology, and an internship at a psychiatric hospital - became part of how she found her way back to art. The figures she paints are open to interpretation: vulnerable, strange, sometimes humorous, and full of feeling.

I’d love to know what you see in them. Tell me in the comments.

In Part 2, I’ll look at the artists and movements that shaped Annie’s visual language, including the Surrealists. taken in Dubai, United Arab Emirates by @celineazem

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11 days ago

And just like that 💍 ✨ taken in Norway by @celineazem

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9 months ago

Some exhibitions begin long before the works reach the gallery.

The Living Archive grew through studio visits, conversations and watching Ahmad’s faces slowly emerge from layers of material. Curating this exhibition with @mara_firetti has been such a meaningful journey, and I’m incredibly excited to finally share it with you.

Through these works, Ahmad Tallaa explores the face as a witness—carrying the traces of time, memory and lived experience.

Ahmad Tallaa: The Living Archive
Opening 21 September 2026
Firetti Contemporary, Alserkal Avenue

If you’re in the UAE, come and experience these works up close 🤍

#AhmadTallaa #TheLivingArchive #FirettiContemporary #AlserkalAvenue #DubaiArt taken in Firetti Contemporary by @celineazem

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19 days ago

Most artists paint a landscape. Salmah Almansoori turns hers into paper.

For Part One of my deep dive into Salmah’s practice, I’m looking at Tracing What Remains, a series rooted in Ghayathi, Al Dhafra. Handmade using locally sourced alfalfa and pond fibres, each sheet carries physical traces of a landscape shaped by agriculture, water, memory and change.

The paper isn’t simply a surface. Its fibres guide the colour, texture and rhythm of each composition, turning every work into a living archive of place.

And this is only one side of Salmah’s practice. Part Two: the paintings 🤎

#SalmahAlmansoori #EmiratiArt #ContemporaryArt #UAEArtists #ArtReels taken in Dubai, United Arab Emirates by @celineazem

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20 days ago

Starting a new series where I take a closer look at artists, their stories and the symbols that keep returning throughout their work.

First up @reynierllanes

Reynier’s grandfather used to ask him to find the moral in every fable. Now, through his paintings, Reynier asks us to do the same.

A particularly special artist to begin with, having worked closely with Reynier and presented his solo exhibition “Reverie” at Firetti Contemporary in 2025. 🤍

His upcoming solo will take place at the gallery November of this year 🫰🏻
#ReynierLlanes #CubanArt #contemporaryart taken in Firetti Contemporary by @celineazem

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24 days ago

Sneak peak for @ahmad.tallaa_ upcoming show and our renovated gallery 🥹 we can’t wait to welcome you to our new space ❤️💫🥹 @mara_firetti @firetti.contemporary taken in Firetti Contemporary by @celineazem

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25 days ago

Around the world with you @khldfx ❤️‍🔥 taken in Amsterdam, Netherlands by @celineazem

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a month ago

WIP ⚠️ 🚧 🏗️💫 taken in Firetti Contemporary by @celineazem

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a month ago

Kinda chic to turn a love of art into a life 💫 taken in Firetti Contemporary by @celineazem

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a month ago

A glimpse into the life of a gallerist & curator 🎨

From artist studios to exhibition installs, art fairs, opening nights, press, content creation, collector homes and institutional exhibitions — no two days ever really look the same.

There’s so much that happens behind the scenes of an exhibition, but at the centre of it all are the artists.

Spending time with them, understanding their practices, telling their stories, creating opportunities for their work and connecting them with audiences who will appreciate what they do.

And then we do it all over again. Another studio visit, another exhibition, another story to tell. 🤍

A little look behind the scenes of life at Firetti Contemporary. taken in Dubai, United Arab Emirates by @celineazem

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2 months ago

Some faces are painted. These are unearthed.

Ahmad Tallaa works the way weather works: slowly, by pressure and erosion, until the surface gives something up. Born in Damascus in 1994 and now working in Sharjah, he makes everything he touches from scratch, the grounds, the tools, the paper, even the ney he plays when the painting is done. A bought material carries someone else’s decisions inside it. His carry only his own, and the marks of their making.

So the faces arrive the way memory does. Scraped, sanded, gone at the eyes. Not likenesses of anyone, but what stays when likeness wears away.

Ahmad Tallaa, b. 1994, Damascus. Lives and works in Sharjah.
@ahmad.tallaa_

#AhmadTallaa #ContemporaryPainting #SyrianArtists #MaterialPainting #UAEArtScene
@firetti.contemporary
@mara_firetti
@alserkalavenue

ض الوجوه يُرسم، وهذه الوجوه يُكشف عنها.

يعمل أحمد طلاع بالطريقة التي تعمل بها الطبيعة والطقس: ببطء، عبر الضغط والتعرية، حتى تتخلى السطوح عما تخفيه. ولد في دمشق عام 1994 ويعيش ويعمل حالياً في الشارقة، ويصنع كل ما يلمسه من الصفر؛ المواد الأساسية، والأدوات، والورق، وحتى آلة الناي التي يعزف عليها بعد الانتهاء من الرسم. إن المواد الجاهزة تحمل في طياتها قرارات أشخاص آخرين، أما مواده فلا تحمل سوى قراراته الخاصة، وآثار صناعتها.
@in.still.form
لذا، تأتي الوجوه بالطريقة التي تأتي بها الذاكرة؛ مكشوطة، ومحكوفة، وغائبة الملامح عند العينين. ليست شبهاً بمدامح أحد، بل هي ما يتبقى عندما يتلاشى الشبه.

أحمد طلاع، مواليد 1994، دمشق. يعيش ويعمل في الشارقة. by @celineazem

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2 months ago